Ratimir, Duke of Lower Pannonia explained

Ratimir
Duke of "Lower Pannonia"
More:	no
Reign:	829–838
Reign-Type:	Duke
Predecessor:	Ljudevit Posavski
Occupation:	Bulgar vassal

Ratimir (Latin: Ratimarus) was a duke or prince (knez) of the Slavs in Lower Pannonia between ca. 829 to 838.^[1] It is believed that Ratimir descends from a royal dynasty that provided rulers for Moravia and Croatia.

In 827, the Bulgars under Great Khan Omurtag invaded and conquered Lower Pannonia and parts of Frankish territories to the north. In 829 the Bulgars imposed a local prince, Ratimir, as the new ruler of the territory. His province is believed to have been the territory of the former Roman Pannonia Savia,^[2] which is located in modern-day Croatia. Earlier, Sigismund Calles (1750) called him "Slavic duke of the Drava".^[3]

In 838, nine years later, following the Bulgarian conquest of Macedonia, the Danubian count Radbod, prefect of the East March, deposed Ratimir and restored Frankish rule. Ratimir fled the land, and the Franks instated dukes Pribina and Kocelj to rule Pannonian area in the name of the Franks.

Unlike his predecessors, Ratimir experienced a rift in relations with the Christian Byzantine Empire.^[4]

According to the South Slavic Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, rejected by historians, one of Ratimir's descendants was Svatopluk.^[5]

Sources

• Book: Luthar, Oto. The Land Between: A History of Slovenia. 2008. Peter Lang. 978-3-631-57011-1. 104–. From there his path was soon to lead him to the Slavic prince, Ratimir, successor to the rebellious Louis of Lower Pannonia. This meant he was once more on territory controlled by the Franks and under the jurisdiction of Ratbod, the prefect..
• Annales regni Francorum inde ab a. 741 usque ad a. 829, qui dicuntur Annales Laurissenses maiores et Einhardi. Herausgegeben von Friedrich Kurze. XX und 204 S. 8°. 1895. Printed in 1950.
• Rudolf Horvat, History of Croatia I. (from ancient times to year 1657), Zagreb, 1924. (hr.)
• Nada Klaić, History of Croats in Early Middle Ages, Zagreb, 1975. (hr.)

External links

• Annales regni francorum - original text in latin
• "Duke Ratimir", chapter of "Povijest Hrvatske" by Rudolf Horvat, in Croatian Wikisource

Notes and References

1. Web site: Slavonia - Princes in Slavonia .
2. Book: Ernst Dümmler. Über die älteste Geschichte der Slaven in Dalmatien: (549-928). 1856. Braumüller in Komm.. 46–.
3. Book: Sigismund Calles. Annales Austriae ab ultima aetatis memoria ad Habsburgicae gentis principes deducti. Pars 1. Res Austriae veteris sub Romanis, Austrasiae, Germaniaeque regibus, ac impp. ac praecipue Babenbergicae stirpis in Austria Marchionibus gestae. Authore P. Sigismundo Calles. 1750. typis L. J. Kaliwoda. 602–.
4. Web site: The Strategos Paul and the Archontes of the Westerners . Tibor . Živković . 172 .
5. Book: Imre Boba. Moravia's History Reconsidered: A Reinterpretation of Medieval Sources. 1971. Martinus Nijhoff. 978-90-247-5041-2.